INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITIES MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH ANNUAL GIVING

Oboe performance minor Ana Sofia Uzsoy performs during an applied student recital in October 2018. Photo by Erin Zanders.

On a given day you’ll find students in the Department of Music working on a class project in the digital audio workstation lab, rehearsing a new choral work by a contemporary composer or celebrating their first off-campus performance with their student-led woodwind quintet. All of these activities are made possible thanks to annual gifts from NC State’s music alumni.

For the NC State Woodwind Quintet, annual giving allows the department to provide them with a coach— Mary Boone, the assistant principal flutist for the N.C. Symphony.

“Ms. Boone has been invaluable in helping the quintet grow into the best ensemble we can be,” said junior music performance minor Ana Sofia Uzsoy. “She knows all the good quintet repertoire, has a lot of experience coaching chamber music and is just an amazing musician in general. She also connects us with performance opportunities off campus that we never would have had otherwise.”

One such performance opportunity was an Ovations performance prior to a spring N.C. Symphony concert in the lobby of Meymandi Hall in Raleigh, which Boone arranged for the group.

“Essentially, we were able to play for the entire symphony audience in a professional venue, which was an amazing experience,” said Uzsoy. “To make it even better, we all got complimentary tickets to the Symphony’s performance that night, which included Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. It was truly a night I’ll never forget.”

Applied lesson instructors and collaborative pianists, equipment and instruments and evolving technologies are all necessary parts of running a music department. These essential elements are available to NC State student-musicians thanks to the generosity of annual supporters.

The smallest gift makes a difference. Whether it’s $50 to acquire a piece of music for an ensemble, $100 to upgrade the software on a computer in the digital audio lab or $250 to help a student travel to an event or competition, there are lots of ways for an individual to make an impact.

But the real power lies in the collective impact of all music alumni coming together to pass on the experiences that shaped your memories of NC State to new generations of student-musicians. Any gift, however large or small, extends the music-making opportunities you enjoyed—as well as new ones—to more students every day. Please consider making your annual contribution to the Department of Music today. ♫

To learn how you can become an annual sustaining donor to the Department of Music and support NC State’s music students, visit music.arts.ncsu.edu/giving.